Electromagnetic induction heating methods have been used in reaction vessels in a number of industrial applications. These applications include methods related to manufacturing and treating granular polysilicon in fluidized bed reactors. Examples of these uses include the following references.
Induction Heating Coil and System Design, P. G. Simpson, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1960 and Induction Heating, N. R. Stansel, 1st Edition, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1949 disclose general techniques and materials for induction heating.
Iya (U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,199) demonstrates the use of a fluidized bed reactor along with a method for generating fine sized particles to be used in such a reactor.
Gautreaux et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,840) teaches a method of utilizing a fluidized bed reactor to create polysilicon particles having reduced surface dust. In this method, a first mode creates polysilicon particles by the decomposition of silane, then a second mode decomposes a lower concentration of silane to form an encapsulating layer around the original particle.
Kuramoto (U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,308) discloses an apparatus for heating polycrystalline silicon, in which the silicon is placed in a reaction vessel which is heated by an outside means. This reaction vessel has an inner liner formed of graphite coated with highly pure silicon having a thickness of 100 microns or more.